day 312 – my morning routine had settled into breakfast and coffee. the small cafe had a few seats in the sun and the owner had started seeing me regularly, but today would be the last day. after breakfast i bought my train ticket back to yangon.

the day before i’d spoken to a cycle rickshaw driver about where i could get another tattoo. so today he took me to a small place hidden in a back alley. the guy was a decent tattooist, so after a long conversation we decided on a design. two hours (and $15) later i had my tattoo. i returned to the hotel for a rest.

i had a really good hamburger and beer for dinner, then went to see ‘the moustache brothers’ show again. it was my second time to see them perform, and i was disappointed that i couldn’t organise a video camera to record the whole performance.

day 313 – i woke up early, had a quick shower and got the train to yangon. it was a long, boring day on the train with nothing much to see.

we arrived in yangon on time, which was nice, and i walked across town to my hotel. actually, my arse was sore from the wooden seats on the train, and i was quite tired. i grabbed a quick dinner and went to sleep.

day 314 – i returned to the indian embassy first thing the next morning. i paid for the visa, which i was able to pick up in the afternoon. i returned to the hotel and changed rooms, taking a room with a much nicer view. i read my book on the balcony for a while and then went for a walk around town. i stopped by the air india office and bought my ticket to kolkata

i hadn’t felt like taking photos, so i just wandered through the markets and streets. i had lunch and walked past a yangon united fc store which was just opening up. i bought some souvenirs to send back to craig and headed back towards the embassy. i collected my passport and visa, enjoyed another sugar cane drink from the local street vendors and went back to the hotel. i read my book and slept.

day 315 – after breakfast i decided to relax in the rooftop hammocks and read my book. i got talking to an american tourist, also called dave, who shared with me a prize collection of lonely planet pdf files. sweet!! i wandered into town, checked email and stumbled across a small group of locals playing chess. i stopped to watch and ended up playing three games. i got thrashed each game by a guy who clearly spends a lot of time playing chess!

i had dinner and returned to the hotel. in the evening i finished ‘the book thief’, messed around with some mp3s and went to bed.